Registry for trading partners using documents for commerce in trading partner networks

ABSTRACT

A market making node in a network routes machine readable documents to connect businesses with customers, suppliers and trading partners. The self defining electronic documents, such as XML based documents, can be easily understood amongst the partners. Definitions of these electronic business documents, called business interface definitions, are posted on the Internet, or otherwise communicated to members of the network. The business interface definitions tell potential trading partners the services the company offers and the documents to use when communicating with such services. Thus, a typical business interface definition allows a customer to place an order by submitting a purchase order or a supplier checks availability by downloading an inventory status report. Also, the registration at a market maker node of a specification of the input and output documents, coupled with interpretation information in a common business library, enables participants in a trading partner network to execute the transaction in a way which closely parallels the way in which paper based businesses operate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/173,854, filed on 16 Oct. 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,391, entitledMARKET MAKERS USING DOCUMENTS FOR COMMERCE IN TRADING PARTNER NETWORKS;and is related to:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/173,847, filed on 16 Oct. 1998, nowU.S. Pat. No. 6,226,675 B1, entitled PARTICIPANT SERVER WHICH PROCESSESDOCUMENTS FOR COMMERCE IN TRADING PARTNER NETWORKS; and

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/173,858, filed on 16 Oct. 1998,entitled DOCUMENTS FOR COMMERCE IN TRADING PARTNER NETWORKS ANDINTERFACE DEFINITIONS BASED ON THE DOCUMENTS.

REFERENCE TO COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX

A computer program listing appendix comprising duplicate copies of acompact disc, named “CMRC1006-2-CPLA,” accompanies this application andis incorporated by reference. The computer program listing appendixincludes the following file:

LISTING COMBINED.txt 84,674 bytes created Feb. 7, 2002

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to systems and protocols supportingtransactions among diverse clients coupled to a network; and moreparticularly to systems and protocols supporting commercial transactionsamong platforms having variant architectures.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet and other communications networks provide avenues forcommunication among people and computer platforms which are being usedfor a wide variety of transactions, including commercial transactions inwhich participants buy and sell goods and services. Many efforts areunderway to facilitate commercial transactions on the Internet. However,with many competing standards, in order to execute a transaction, theparties to the transaction must agree in advance on the protocols to beutilized, and often require custom integration of the platformarchitectures to support such transactions. Commercial processesinternal to a particular node not compatible with agreed upon standards,may require substantial rework for integration with other nodes.Furthermore, as a company commits to one standard or the other, thecompany becomes locked-in to a given standardized group of transactingparties, to the exclusion of others.

A good overview of the challenges met by Internet commerce developmentis provided in Tenenbaum, et al., “Eco System: An Internet CommerceArchitecture”, Computer, May 1997, pp. 48-55.

To open commercial transactions on the Internet, standardization ofarchitectural frameworks is desired. Platforms developed to support suchcommercial frameworks include IBM Commerce Point, Microsoft InternetCommerce Framework, Netscape ONE (Open Network Environment), Oracle NCA(Network Computing Architecture), and Sun/JAVASoft JECF (JAVA ElectronicCommerce Framework).

In addition to these proprietary frameworks, programming techniques,such as common distributed object model based on CORBA IIOP (CommonObject Request Broker Architecture Internet ORB Protocol), are beingpursued. Use of the common distributed object model is intended tosimplify the migration of enterprise systems to systems which caninter-operate at the business application level for electronic commerce.However, a consumer or business using one framework is unable to executetransactions on a different framework. This limits the growth ofelectronic commerce systems.

Companies implementing one framework will have an applicationprogramming interface API which is different than the API's supportingother frameworks. Thus, it is very difficult for companies to accesseach others business services, without requiring adoption of commonbusiness system interfaces. The development of such business systeminterfaces at the API level requires significant cooperation amongst theparties which is often impractical.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a framework which facilitatesinteraction amongst diverse platforms in a communication network. Suchsystem should facilitate spontaneous commerce between trading partnerswithout custom integration or prior agreement on industry widestandards. Further, such systems should encourage incremental path tobusiness automation, to eliminate much of the time, cost and risks oftraditional systems integration.

Overall, it is desirable to provide an electronic commerce system thatreplaces the closed trading partner networks based on proprietarystandards with open markets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention offers an infrastructure for connecting businesseswith customers, suppliers and trading partners. Under the infrastructureof the present invention, companies exchange information and servicesusing self-defining, machine-readable documents, such as XML (ExtensibleMarkup Language) based documents, that can be easily understood amongstthe partners. Documents which describe the documents to be exchanged,called business interface definitions BIDs herein, are posted on theInternet, or otherwise communicated to members of the network. Thebusiness interface definitions tell potential trading partners theservices the company offers and the documents to use when communicatingwith such services. Thus, a typical business interface definition allowsa customer to place an order by submitting a purchase order, compliantwith a document definition published in the BID of a party to receivethe purchase order. A supplier is allowed to check availability bydownloading an inventory status report compliant with a documentdefinition published in the BID of a business system managing inventorydata. Use of predefined, machine-readable business documents provides amore intuitive and flexible way to access enterprise applications.

A node in the commerce network establishes an interface for transactionsaccording to the present invention that comprises a machine-readablespecification of an interface, along with a machine-readable datastructure that includes interpretation information for themachine-readable specification of the interface. The machine-readablespecification of the interface includes a definition of an inputdocument and a definition of an output document, that are accepted andproduced by transaction processes for which the node acts as aninterface. The definitions of the input and output documents compriserespective descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structuresfor sets of storage units, such as according to a standard XML baseddocument. The machine-readable data structure that includesinterpretation information according to various aspects of the inventionincludes data type specifications (e.g. string, array, etc.) for logicalstructures in the definitions of the input and output documents, contentmodels (e.g. lists of possible values) for logical structures and/ordata structures that map predefined sets of storage units for aparticular logic structure to respective entries in a list in order toprovide a semantic definition of logical structures (e.g. mapping codesto product names).

According to other aspects of the invention, the interface includes arepository in memory accessible by at least one node in the network thatstores a library of logic structures and interpretation information forthe logic structures. The repository can be extended to include alibrary of definitions of input and output documents, a library ofspecifications of interfaces, and a library of specifications forparticipant interface nodes in the network.

Thus, a participant in the transaction framework of the presentinvention executes transactions amongst nodes in a network that includesa plurality of nodes executing processes involved in the transactions.The method includes storing a machine-readable specification of aninterface for a transaction, the specification includes a definition ofan input document and a definition of an output document. The definitionof the input and output documents comprise respective descriptions ofsets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storageunits. In a preferred system, the definitions are expressed in a mannercompliant with a standard XML document type definition DTD, extended bysemantic mapping, content modeling and data typing of some elements. Theparticipant in the transaction receives data comprising a documentthrough a communication network. The participant parses the documentaccording to the specification stored for a transaction to identify aninput document for the transaction. After parsing the document, at leasta portion of the input document is provided in a machine-readable formatto a transaction process which produces an output. An output document isformed comprising the output of the transaction process, based on thedefinition of an output document in the stored specification. The outputdocument is transmitted on the communication network, typically back tothe source of the input document, or elsewhere as suits the needs of aparticular type of transaction.

Thus the business interface definition bridges the gap between thedocuments specified for example according to XML and the programs whichexecute on the front end of the transaction processing services atparticular nodes. Such front ends are implemented for example by JAVAvirtual machines, or by other common architectures providing forinterconnection of systems across a network. The business interfacedefinition provides a technique by which a transaction protocol isprogrammed using the business interface definition document. The programfor the protocol of the transaction is established by a detailed formalspecification of a document type.

The machine-readable specification of the interface of the transactionis made accessible to other platforms in the network. Participantplatforms include resources to design input documents and outputdocuments according to the transaction interface specified at acomplementary node. Thus, participant nodes include resources to accessthe definition of an input document for the complementary interface anda definition of an output document for the complementary interface. Thestored specification for the accessing participant node is establishedby including at least part of the definition of the output document ofthe complementary interface in the definition of the input document ofthe interface stored in the specification.

The process of establishing the stored specification of an interfaceaccording to another aspect of the invention includes accessing elementsof the machine-readable specification from a repository. The repositorystores a library of logic structures, content models, and schematic mapsfor logic structures, and definition of documents that comprise logicstructures used to build interface description. A repository accessiblein the network facilitates the building of interface descriptions whichcan be easily shared. Any differences between the input document createdfor a particular process and the output document expected as a return bya complementary process can be easily negotiated by communication on thenetwork and agreeing on common logic structures to express particularinformation.

The machine-readable specification of an interface of a transactionaccording to one aspect of the invention includes a document compliantwith a definition of an interface document that is shared amongstmembers of the network. A definition of the interface document includeslogic structures for storing an identifier of a particular transactionand at least one of definitions and references to definitions of inputand output documents for the particular transaction. That is, theinterface description for a particular service may actually encompass adefinition of the input and output documents. Alternatively, it mayinclude pointers to a location in the repository, or elsewhere in thenetwork, of such definitions.

According to another alternative of the invention, the machine-readablespecification includes a business interface definition BID documentcompliant with a definition of an interface document that includeslogical structures for storing an identifier of the interface, and forstoring at least one of specifications and references to specificationsof a set of one or more transactions supported by the interface. Foreach supported transaction, the document includes at least one ofdefinitions and references to definitions of input and output documentsfor the particular transaction.

According to another aspect of the invention, the storage units definedin the definitions of the input and output document comprise parsed dataincluding character data encoding text characters, and mark-up dataidentifying sets of storage units according to the logical structures ofthe input and output documents. According to another aspect of theinvention, at least one of the sets of storage units encodes theplurality of text characters providing a natural language word. Thisfacilitates the use of the definitions of input and output documents byhuman readers and developers of such documents.

According to another aspect of the invention, the specification of theinput and output documents includes interpretation information for atleast one of the sets of storage units identified by the logicalstructure. The interpretation information in one example encodesdefinitions for sets of parsed characters. In another example, theinterpretation information provides for content model specifications,such as requiring a specific logic structure to carry a member of a listof codes mapped to product descriptions in a catalog. In some systems,the storage units in a logic structure of a document may include sets ofunparsed data, as suits the needs of a particular implementation.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, the transactionprocess in a particular platform has a transaction processingarchitecture which is one of a plurality of variant transactionprocessing architectures. Thus the participant node includes resourcesfor translating at least a portion of the input document into a formatreadable according to the variant transaction processing architecture ofthe transaction process utilizing the information. The elements of thedocument definition are translated into programming objects that includevariables and methods according to the variant transaction processingarchitectures of the transaction process. For a participant having aJAVA virtual machine acting as a transaction process front end,particular fields in the documents are translated into JAVA objects,including the data as well as get and set functions associated with aJAVA object. Other transaction processing architectures supportableaccording to the present invention include processes compliant with aninterface description language in the sense of Common Object RequestBroker Architecture CORBA, Component Object Model COM, On-LineTransaction Processing OLTP, and Electronic Data Interchange EDI.

According to other aspects of the invention, a repository is providedthat stores document types for use in the plurality of transactions. Themachine-readable specification for a particular transaction defines atleast one of the input and output documents by reference to a documenttype in the repository. According to another aspect, the document typeincluded in the repository include a document type for identifyingparticipants in the network. Such document type providing structures foridentifying a participant, specifying the services supported by theparticipant, and specifying the input and output documents for each ofsuch services.

In addition to the methods described above, the present inventionprovides an apparatus for managing transactions among nodes thatincludes a network interface, memory for storing data and programs ofinstructions including a machine-readable specification of an interfacefor a transaction as described above, and a data processor that iscoupled with the memory and the network interface. The programs ofinstructions stored in the apparatus include logic to execute theprocesses described above for a participant in the transactions.

The present invention further provides an apparatus for establishingparticipant interfaces for transactions executed on a system thatinclude a network interface and a data processing resources that executetransaction processes according to a transaction processingarchitecture. The apparatus includes programs of instructions that areexecutable by the system and stored on a medium accessible by the systemthat provide tools to build a definition of a participant interface fora participant in a particular transaction. The definition of aparticipant interface includes a definition of an input document and adefinition of an output document. The definitions of the input andoutput documents comprise respective machine-readable descriptions ofsets of storage units in logical structures for the sets of storageunits, which may be compliant in one aspect of the invention with XMLdocument type definitions.

The apparatus for establishing participant interfaces according to thisaspect of the invention also includes programs of instructions stored ona medium accessible by the data processing system and responsive to thedefinitions of input and output documents to compile data structurescorresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of theinput and output documents that are compliant with the transactionprocessing architecture, to compile instructions executable by thesystem to translate the input document to the corresponding datastructures, and to compile instructions executable by the system totranslate output of the transaction processes into sets of storage unitsand logical structures of the output document.

The tools to build a definition of a participant interface in apreferred system include instructions executable by the system to accesselements of the definition from complementary nodes and/or from arepository that stores a library of logical structures andinterpretation information for logical structures used to buildinterface descriptions. According to various aspects of the invention,the repository includes not only a library of logical structures butdefinitions of documents that comprise logical structures, and formatsfor specifying participant interfaces. According to this aspect of theinvention, tools are provided for building specifications of businessinterfaces according to the techniques described above in connectionwith the description of the participant nodes. The tools for buildinginterfaces and the tools for compiling the interfaces into resourcesneeded for communication with transaction processing architecturesaccording to this aspect of the invention, are implemented inparticipant nodes in the preferred system, and utilized for thedevelopment and optimization of the interface descriptions as use of thenetwork grows based on interface descriptions that define input andoutput documents.

Accordingly, another aspect of the invention provides an apparatus thatincludes memory and a data processor that executes instructions storedin the memory that include tools to build a definition of a participantinterface and a compiler performing the functions described above.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, the use of theparticipant interface descriptions enables the operation of a marketmaker node. At such a node, a method for managing transactions isprovided that comprises storing machine-readable specifications of aplurality of participant interfaces which identify transactionssupported by the interfaces, and the respective input and outputdocuments of such transactions. As described above, the definitions ofthe input and output documents comprise respective descriptions of setsof storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units,such as according to the XML standard. In addition, the definitions ofthe transactions and the definitions of the participant interfaces allcomprise documents specified according to a technique compliant with XMLor other standardized document expression language. At such market makernode, data comprising a document is received over a communicationnetwork. The document is parsed according to the specifications toidentify an input document in one or more transactions which accept theidentified input document. At least a portion of the input document isprovided in a machine-readable format to a transaction processassociated with the one or more identified transactions. The step ofproviding at least a portion of the input document to a transactionprocess includes executing a routing process according to a processingarchitecture at the market maker node. The routing process in one aspectof the invention is executed according to a particular processingarchitecture, and at least a portion of the incoming document istranslated into the format of the processing architecture of the routingprocess. The translating according to the preferred aspect includesproducing programming objects that include variables and methodsaccording to the processing architecture of the routing process.

According to another aspect of the invention, the market maker node alsosupports the repository structure. Thus, a process is included at themarket maker node for allowing access by participants in the network toa repository stored at the market maker node. As described above, therepository includes definitions of logic structures, interpretationinformation, and document definitions for use by the participant nodesto build transaction interface documents and includes instances ofbusiness interface definitions that identify the participants, and thetransactions executed by the respective participants.

The routing process includes according to various alternatives thetranslating of the input document into the variant processingarchitecture of the processes to which the document is to be routed, orrouting the input document in its original document format across thenetwork to a remote processing node, or to combinations of suchprocesses. In alternatives, the routing process may also includetechniques for transforming an input document defined according to oneinput document definition into a different document defined according toa different document specification for a process which has registered towatch for the input document.

Also, the market maker node is provided according to the presentinvention as apparatus that includes a network interface, memory storingdata and programs of instructions including the specifications of theparticipant interfaces, and a data processor. The logic is provided withthe data processor in the form of programs of instructions or otherwiseto perform the market maker process as discussed above.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a foundation for electroniccommerce based on the sharing of specifications of input and outputdocuments. Documents provide an intuitive and flexible way to accessbusiness services, much simpler to implement than programming APIs. Itis much easier to interconnect companies in terms of documents that areexchanged, on which such companies already largely agree, than in termsof business system interfaces which invariably differ. In addition, suchdocuments are specified in a human readable format in the preferredembodiment. According to the present invention the business interfacesare specified in documents, such as XML documents that are readilyinterpretable by humans as well as by computers.

Utilization of the document based transaction architecture of thepresent invention involves the use of a parser which operates inbasically the same way for any source of documents, eliminating much ofthe need for custom programs to extract and integrate information fromeach participant in the network. Thus, integrating enterpriseinformation from accounting, purchasing, manufacturing, shipping andother functions can be accomplished by first converting each source to adocument having an architecture according to the present invention, andthen processing the parsed data stream. Each node in the system thatparticipates in the market only needs to know about the format of itsinternal systems, as well as the format of the documents being specifiedfor interchange according to the transaction. Thus, there is no need tobe able to produce the native format of every other node which mightwant to participate in the electronic commerce network.

For complete business integration, the present invention provides arepository of standardized logical structures, like XML elements,attributes or meta data, establishing a semantic language for particularcommerce communities, a means for mapping between different meta datadescriptions, and a server for processing the documents and invokingappropriate applications and services. The basic building blocks of anetwork according to the present invention include the businessinterface definitions which tell potential trading partners what onlineservices a company offers and which documents to use to invoke theservices; and servers which provide the bridge to bind together the setof internal and external business services to create a tradingcommunity. The server operates to parse the incoming documents andinvoke the appropriate services. Also the server according to thepresent invention handles the translation tasks from the format of thedocuments being received and transmitted, to and from the formats of therespective host systems. Thus, trading partners need only agree on thestructure, content and sequencing of the business documents exchanged,and not on the details of application programmer interfaces. How adocument is processed and the actions which result from receipt of adocument are strictly up to the businesses providing the services. Thiselevates integration from the system level to the business level. Itenables the business to present a clean and stable interface to itspartners despite changes in its internal technology implementation,organization or processes.

The whole process of building business interface definitions andenabling servers to manage commerce according to such descriptions isfacilitated by a common business library, or repository, of informationmodels for generic business concepts including business descriptionprimitives like companies, services and products, business forms likecatalogs, purchase orders and invoices, and standard measurements,including time and date, location and classification of goods.

Other aspects of the present invention can be seen upon review of thefigures, the detailed description, and the claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of an electronic commerce networkincluding business interface definitions BIDs according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a business interface definitiondocument according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual block diagram of a server for a participant nodein the network of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the processing of a receiveddocument at a participant node according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a parser and transaction process front endfor an XML based system.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of the flow of a parse function.

FIG. 7 is a simplified diagram of the resources at a server used forbuilding a business interface definition according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a simplified diagram of a repository according to the presentinvention for use for building business interface definitions.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the processes of building a businessinterface definition according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 provides a heuristic view of a repository according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 is a simplified diagram of the resources at a server providingthe market maker function for the network of the present invention basedon business interface definitions.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for the market maker node processing of areceived document.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating the process of registeringparticipants at a market maker node according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing servicespecifications at a market maker node according to the process of FIG.9.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the sequence of operation at aparticipant or market maker node according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the elements of a commercial networkbased on BIDs, according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of the present invention is provided with respectto the figures, in which FIG. 1 illustrates a network of marketparticipants and market makers based on the use of business interfacedefinitions, and supporting the trading of input and output documentsspecified according to such interface descriptions. The network includesa plurality of nodes 11-18 which are interconnected through acommunication network such as the Internet 19, or othertelecommunications or data communications network. Each of the nodes11-19 consists of a computer, such as a portable computer, a desktoppersonal computer, a workstation, a network of systems, or other dataprocessing resources. The nodes include memory for storing the businessinterface definition, processors that execute transaction processessupporting commercial transactions with other nodes in the network, andcomputer programs which are executed by the processors in support ofsuch services. In addition each of the nodes includes a networkinterface for providing for communication across the Internet 19, or theother communication network.

In the environment of FIG. 1, nodes 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 18 aredesignated market participants. Market participants include resourcesfor consumers or suppliers of goods or services to be traded accordingto commercial transactions established according to the presentinvention.

In this example, nodes 15 and 17 are market maker nodes. The marketmaker nodes include resources for registering business interfacedefinitions, called a BID registry. Participants are able to senddocuments to a market maker node, at which the document is identifiedand routed to an appropriate participant which has registered to receivesuch documents as input. The market maker also facilitates thecommercial network by maintaining a repository of standard forms makingup a common business library for use in building business interfacedefinitions.

In this example, the market participant 18 is connected directly to themarket maker 17, rather than through the Internet 19. This connectiondirectly to the market maker illustrates that the configuration of thenetworks supporting commercial transactions can be very diverse,incorporating public networks such as the Internet 19, and privateconnections such as a local area network or a Point-to-Point connectionas illustrated between nodes 17 and 18. Actual communication networksare quite diverse and suitable for use to establish commercialtransaction networks according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a heuristic diagram of nested structures in a businessinterface definition BID which is established for market participants inthe network according to the present invention. The business interfacedefinition illustrated in FIG. 2 is a data structure that consists oflogic structures and storage units arranged according to a formaldefinition of a document structure, such as a XML document typedefinition DTD. The structure of FIG. 2 includes a first logic structure200 for identifying a party. Associated with the logic structure 200 arenested logic structures for carrying the name 201, the physical address202, the network address or location 203, and a set of transactions fora service 204. For each transaction in the service set, an interfacedefinition is provided, including the transaction BID 205, thetransaction BID 206, and the transaction BID 207. Within eachtransaction BID, such as transaction BID 205, logical structures areprovided for including a name 208, a location on the network at whichthe service is performed 209, the operations performed by the service210, and a set of input documents indicated by the tag 211. Also, theservice BID 205 includes a set of output documents indicated by the tag212. The set of input documents 211 includes a business interfacedefinition for each input document for which the services are designedto respond, including input document business interface definitions 213,214, and 215. Each business interface definition for an input documentincludes a name 216, a location on the network at which a description ofthe document can be found 217, and the modules to be carried in thedocument as indicated by the field 218. In a similar manner, the outputdocument set 212 includes interface definitions for output documentsincluding the output document BID 219, output document BID 220, andoutput document BID 221. For each output document BID, a name 222, alocation on the network or elsewhere 223, and the modules of thedocument 224 are specified. The business interface definition for theparticipant as illustrated in FIG. 2 includes actual definitions of alogic structures to be utilized for the input and output documents ofthe respective services, or pointers or other references to locations atwhich these definitions can be found.

In the preferred system, the document of FIG. 2 is specified in an XMLdocument type definition DTD, although other document definitionarchitectures could be used, and includes interpretation information forthe logical structures used in interpretation of instances of thedocuments. In addition, each of the transaction BIDs, input documentBIDs and output document BIDs are specified according to an XML documenttype definitions. The XML type document is an example of a system basedon parsed data that includes mark-up data and character data. Mark-updata identifies logical structures within the document and sets ofcharacter data identify the content of the logical structures. Inaddition, unparsed data can be carried in the document for a variety ofpurposes. See for example the specification of the Extensible Mark-upLanguage XML 1.0 REC-XML-19980210 published by the WC3 XML Working Groupat WWW.W3.ORG/TR/1998/REC-XML-19980210.

Thus in an exemplary system, participant nodes in the network establishvirtual enterprises by interconnecting business systems and serviceswith XML encoded documents that businesses accept and generate. Forexample, the business interface definition of a particular serviceestablishes that if a document matching the BID of a request for acatalog entry is received, then a document matching a BID of a catalogentry will be returned. Also, if a document matching the BID of apurchase order is received, and it is acceptable to the receivingterminal, a document matching the BID of an invoice will be returned.The nodes in the network process the XML documents before they enter thelocal business system, which is established according to the varianttransaction processing architecture of any given system in the network.Thus, the system unpacks sets of related documents, such as MIME-encodedsets of XML documents, parses them to create a stream of “mark-upmessages”. The messages are routed to the appropriate applications andservices using for example an event listener model like that describedbelow.

The documents exchanged between business services are encoded using anXML language built from a repository of building blocks (a commonbusiness language) from which more complex document definitions may becreated. The repository stores modules of interpretation informationthat are focused on the functions and information common to businessdomains, including business description primitives like companies,services and products; business forms like catalogs, purchase orders andinvoices; standard measurements, like time, date, location;classification codes and the like providing interpretation informationfor logical structures in the XML documents.

The business interface definition is a higher level document that actsas a schema used for designing interfaces that trade documents accordingto the present invention. Thus the business interface definition bridgesthe gap between the documents specified according to XML and theprograms which execute on the front end of the transaction processingservices at particular nodes. Such front ends are implemented by JAVAvirtual machines, or by other common architectures providing forinterconnection of systems across a network. Thus, the businessinterface definition provides a technique by which a transactionprotocol is programmed using the business interface definition document.The program for the protocol of the transaction is established by adetailed formal specification of a document type.

An example business interface definition BID based on a marketparticipant document which conforms to an XML format is provided below.The market participant DTD groups business information about marketparticipants, associating contact and address information with adescription of services and financial information. This businessinformation is composed of names, codes, addresses, a dedicatedtaxonomic mechanism for describing business organization, and a pointerto terms of business. In addition, the services identified by the marketparticipant DTD will specify the input and output documents which thatparticipant is expected respond to and produce. Thus, documents whichdefine schema using an exemplary common business language for a marketparticipant DTD, a service DTD, and a transaction document DTD specifiedin XML with explanatory comments are set forth as LISTING 1, in the filenamed LISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanying computer program listingappendix.

The service DTD schema may be extended with a service type element in acommon business language repository, an example of which is set forth asLISTING 2, in the file named LISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanyingcomputer program listing appendix.

The service type element above illustrates interpretation informationcarried by a business interface definition, in this example a contentform allowing identification of any one of a list of valid servicetypes. Other interpretation information includes data typing, such asfor example the element <H3>Internet Address</H3> including the contentform “url” and expressed in the data type “string.” Yet otherinterpretation information includes mapping of codes to elements of alist, such as for example the element <H3>State</H3> including the codemapping for states in the file “COUNTRY.US.SUBENTITY.”

The service description referred to by the market participant DTDdefines the documents that the service accepts and generates uponcompetition of the service. A basic service description is specifiedbelow as a XML document transact.dtd.

Transact.dtd models a transaction description, such as an invoice, or adescription of an exchange of value. This document type supports manyuses, so the transaction description element has an attribute thatallows user to distinguish among invoices, performance, offers to sell,requests for quotes and so on. The exchange may occur among more thantwo parties, but only two are called out, the offeror and the counterparty, each of whom is represented by a pointer to a document conformingto the market participant DTD outlined above. The counter party pointeris optional, to accommodate offers to sell. The exchange description isdescribed in the module tranprim.mod listed below, and includes pricingand subtotals. Following the exchange description, charges applying tothe transaction as a whole may be provided, and a total charge must besupplied. Thus, the transaction description schema document transact.dtdfor this example is set forth below:

<!-- transact.dtd Version: 1.0 -->

<!-- Copyright 1998 Veo Systems, Inc. -->

. . .

<!ELEMENT transaction.description (meta?, issuer.pointer,

-   -   counterparty.pointer?, exhange.descrption+, general.charges?,    -   net.total?)>

<!ATTLIST transaction.description

-   -   transaction.type (invoice|pro.forma|offer.to.sell|order        -   |request.for.quote|request.for.bid        -   |request.for.proposal|response.to.request.for.quote        -   |response.to.request.for.bid        -   |response.to.request.for.proposal) “invoice”    -   % common.attrib;    -   % altrep.attrib;    -   % ttl.attrib;

>

Representative market participant, and service DTDs, created accordingto the definitions above, are set forth as LISTING 3, in the file namedLISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanying computer program listingappendix.

One instance of a document produced according to the transact.dtd is setforth as LISTING 4, in the file named LISTING COMBINED.txt in theaccompanying computer program listing appendix.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a technique by which amarket participant is able to identify itself, and identify the types ofinput documents and the types of output documents with which it iswilling to transact business. The particular manner in which the contentcarried in such documents is processed by the other parties to thetransaction, or by the local party, is not involved in establishing abusiness relationship nor carrying out transactions.

FIG. 3 provides a simplified view of a participant node in the networkaccording to the present invention. The node illustrated in FIG. 3includes a network interface 300 which is coupled to a communicationnetwork on port 301. The network interface is coupled to a documentparser 301. The parser 301 supplies the logical structures from anincoming document to a translator module 302, which provides fortranslating the incoming document into a form usable by the hosttransaction system, and vice versa translating the output of hostprocesses into the format of a document which matches the outputdocument form in the business interface definition for transmission to adestination. The parser 301 and translator 302 are responsive to thebusiness interface definition stored in the participant module 303.

The output data structures from the translator 302 are supplied to atransaction process front end 304 along with events signaled by theparser 301. The front end 304 in one embodiment consists of a JAVAvirtual machine or other similar interface adapted for communicationamongst diverse nodes in a network. The transaction processing front end304 responds to the events indicated by the parser 301 and thetranslator 302 to route the incoming data to appropriate functions inthe enterprise systems and networks to which the participant is coupled.Thus, the transaction process front end 304 in the example of FIG. 3 iscoupled to commercial functions 305, database functions 306, otherenterprise functions such as accounting and billing 307, and to thespecific event listeners and processors 308 which are designed torespond to the events indicated by the parser.

The parser 301 takes a purchase order like that in the example above, orother document, specified according to the business interface definitionand creates a set of events that are recognized by the local transactionprocessing architecture, such as a set of JAVA events for a JAVA virtualmachine.

The parser of the present invention is uncoupled from the programs thatlisten for events based on the received documents. Various pieces ofmark-up in a received document or a complete document meeting certainspecifications serve as instructions for listening functions to startprocessing. Thus listening programs carry out the business logicassociated with the document information. For example, a programassociated with an address element may be code that validates the postalcode by checking the database. These listeners subscribe to events byregistering with a document router, which directs the relevant events toall subscribers who are interested in them.

For example, the purchase order specified above may be monitored byprograms listening for events generated by the parser, which wouldconnect the document or its contents to an order entry program. Receiptof product descriptions within the purchase order, might invoke aprogram to check inventory. Receipt of address information within thepurchase order, would then invoke a program to check availability ofservices for delivery. Buyer information fields in the document, couldinvoke processes to check order history for credit worthiness or tooffer a promotion or similar processing based on knowing the identity ofthe consumer.

Complex listeners can be created as configurations of primitive ones.For example, a purchase order listener may contain and invoke the listlisteners set out in the previous paragraph, or the list members may beinvoked on their own. Note that the applications that the listeners runare unlikely to be native XML processes or native JAVA processes. Inthese cases, the objects would be transformed into the format requiredby the receiving trans application. When the application finishesprocessing, its output is then transformed back to the XML format forcommunication to other nodes in the network.

It can be seen that the market participant document type description,and the transaction document type description outlined above include aschematic mapping for logic elements in the documents, and includemark-up language based on natural language. The natural languagemark-up, and other natural language attributes of XML facilitate the useof XML type mark-up languages for the specification of businessinterface definitions, service descriptions, and the descriptions ofinput and output documents.

The participant module 303 in addition to storing the business interfacedefinition includes a compiler which is used to compile objects or otherdata structures to be used by the transaction process front end 304which corresponds to the logical structures in the incoming documents,and to compile the translator 302. Thus, as the business interfacedefinition is modified or updated by the participant as the transactionswith which the participant is involved change, the translator 302 andparser 301 are automatically kept up to date.

In a preferred system, the set of JAVA events is created by a compilerwhich corresponds to the grove model of SGML, mainly the standardElement Structure Information Set augmented by the “property set” foreach element. International Standard ISO/IEC 10179:1996 (E), InformationTechnology—Processing Languages—Document Style Semantics andSpecification Language (DSSSL). Turning the XML document into a set ofevents for the world to process contrasts with the normal model ofparsing in which the parser output is maintained as an internal datastructure. By translating the elements of the XML document into JAVAevents or other programming structures that are suitable for use by thetransaction processing front end of the respective nodes enables richfunctionality at nodes utilizing the documents being traded.

Thus, the transaction process front end 304 is able to operate in apublish and subscribe architecture that enables the addition of newlistener programs without the knowledge of or impact on other listeningprograms in the system. Each listener, 305, 306, 307, 308 in FIG. 3,maintains a queue in which the front end 304 directs events. Thisenables multiple listeners to handle events in parallel at their ownpace.

Furthermore, according to the present invention the applications thatthe listeners run need not be native XML functions, or native functionswhich match the format of the incoming document. Rather, these listenersmay be JAVA functions, if the transaction process front end 304 is aJAVA interface, or may be functions which run according to a uniquetransaction processing architecture. In these cases, the objects wouldbe transformed into the format required by the receiving application.When the application of the listener finishes, its output is thentransformed back into the format of a document as specified by thebusiness interface definition in the module 303. Thus, the translator302 is coupled to the network interface 300 directly for supplying thecomposed documents as outputs.

The listeners coupled to the transaction processing front end mayinclude listeners for input documents, listeners for specific elementsof the input documents, and listeners for attributes stored inparticular elements of the input document. This enables diverse andflexible implementations of transaction processes at the participantnodes for filtering and responding to incoming documents.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process of receiving and processing an incomingdocument for the system of FIG. 3. Thus, the process begins by receivinga document at the network interface (step 400). The parser identifiesthe document type (401) in response to the business interfacedefinition. Using the business interface definition, which stores a DTDfor the document in the XML format, the document is parsed (step 402).Next, the elements and attributes of the document are translated intothe format of the host (step 403). In this example, the XML logicstructures are translated into JAVA objects which carry the data of theXML element as well as methods associated with the data such as get andset functions. Next, the host objects are transferred to the hosttransaction processing front end (step 404). These objects are routed toprocesses in response to the events indicated by the parser and thetranslator. The processes which receive the elements of the document areexecuted and produce an output (step 405). The output is translated tothe format of an output document as defined by the business interfacedefinition (step 406). In this example, the translation proceeds fromthe form of a JAVA object to that of an XML document. Finally, theoutput document is transmitted to its destination through the networkinterface (step 407).

FIG. 5 is a more detailed diagram of the event generator/event listenermechanism for the system of FIG. 3. In general the approach illustratedin FIG. 5 is a refinement of the JAVA JDK 1.1 event model. In thismodel, three kinds of objects are considered. A first kind of object isan event object which contains information about the occurrence of anevent. There may be any number of kinds of event objects, correspondingto all the different kinds of events which can occur. A second kind ofobject is an Event generator, which monitors activity and generatesevent objects when something happens. Third, event listeners, listen forevent objects generated by event generators. Event listeners generallylisten to specific event generators, such as for mouse clicks on aparticular window. Event listeners call an “ADD event listener” methodon the event generator. This model can be adapted to the environment ofFIG. 3 in which the objects are generated in response to parsing andwalking a graph of objects, such as represented by an XML document.

The system illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a generic XML parser 500. Suchparser can be implemented using a standard call back model. When aparsing event occurs, the parser calls a particular method in anapplication object, passing in the appropriate information in theparameters. Thus a single application 501 resides with the parser. Theapplication packages the information provided by the parser in an XMLevent object and sends it to as many event listeners as have identifiedthemselves, as indicated by the block 502. The set of events 502 iscompletely parser independent. The events 502 can be supplied to anynumber of listeners and any number of threads on any number of machines.The events are based on the element structure information set ESIS inone alternative. Thus, they consist of a list of the important aspectsof a document structure, such as the starts and ends of elements, or ofthe recognition of an attribute. XML (and SGML) parsers generally usethe ESIS structure as a default set of information for a parser toreturn to its application.

A specialized ESIS listener 503 is coupled to the set of events 502.This listener 503 implements the ESIS listener API, and listens for allXML events from one or more generators. An element event generator 504is a specialized ESIS listener which is also an XML event generator. Itslisteners are objects only interested in events for particular types ofelements. For example in an HTML environment, the listener may only beinterested in ordered lists, that is only the part of the documentbetween the <OL> and </OL> tags. For another example, a listener maylisten for “party.name” elements, or for “service.name” elementsaccording to the common business language, from the example documentsabove, process the events to ensure that the elements carry data thatmatches the schematic mapping for the element, and react according tothe process needed at the receiving node.

This allows the system to have small objects that listen for particularparts of the document, such as one which only adds up prices. Sincelisteners can both add and remove themselves from a generator, there canbe a listener which only listens to for example the <HEAD> part of anHTML document. Because of this and because of the highly recursivenature of XML documents, it is possible to write highly targeted code,and to write concurrent listeners. For example, an <OL> listener can setup an <LI> listener completely separate from the manner in which the<UL> (unordered list) listener sets up its <LI> listener. Alternatively,it can create a listener which generates a graphic user interface andanother which searches a database using the same input. Thus, thedocument is treated as a program executed by the listeners, as opposedto the finished data structure which the application examines one pieceat a time. If an application is written this way, it is not necessary tohave the entire document in memory to execute an application.

The next listener coupled to the set of events 502 is an attributefilter 505. The attribute filter 505 like the element filter 504 is anattribute event generator according to the ESIS listener model. Thelistener for an attribute filter specifies the attributes it isinterested in, and receives events for any element having that attributespecified. So for example, a font manager might receive events only forelements having a font attribute, such as the <P FONT=“Times Roman”/P>.

The element event generator 504 supplies such element objects tospecialize the element listeners 504A.

The attribute event generator 505 supplies the attribute event objectsto attribute listeners 505A. Similarly, the attribute objects aresupplied to a “architecture” in the sense of an SGML/XML transformationfrom one document type to another using attributes. Thus thearchitecture of 505B allows a particular attribute with a particularname to be distinguished. Only elements with that attribute definedbecome part of the output document, and the name of the element in theoutput document is the value of the attribute in the input document. Forexample, if the architecture 505B is HTML, the string:

-   -   <PURCHASES HTML=“OL”><ITEM HTML=“LI”><NAME        HTML=“B”>STUFF</NAME><PRICE        HTML=“B”>123</PRICE></ITEM></PURCHASES>        translates into:

<OL><LI><B>STUFF</B><B>123</B></LI></OL>

which is correct HTML.

The next module which is coupled to the set of events 502 is a treebuilder 506. The tree builder takes a stream of XML events and generatesa tree representation of the underlying document. One preferred versionof the tree builder 506 generates a document object model DOM object507, according to the specification of the W3C (See,http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/WD-DOM-19980720/introduction.html). Howeverlisteners in event streams can be used to handle most requirements, atree version is useful for supporting queries around a document,reordering of nodes, creation of new documents, and supporting a datastructure in memory from which the same event stream can be generatedmultiple times, for example like parsing the document many times. Aspecialized builder 508 can be coupled to the tree builder 506 in orderto build special subtrees for parts of the document as suits aparticular implementation.

In addition to responses to incoming documents, other sources of XMLevents 502 can be provided. Thus, an event stream 510 is generated bywalking over a tree of DOM objects and regenerating the original eventstream created when the document was being parsed. This allows thesystem to present the appearance that the document is being parsedseveral times.

The idea of an object which walks a tree and generates a stream ofevents can be generalize beyond the tree of DOM objects, to any tree ofobjects which can be queried. Thus, a JAVA walker 512 may be anapplication which walks a tree of JAVA bean components 513. The walkerwalks over all the publicly accessible fields and methods. The walkerkeeps track of the objects it has already visited to ensure that itdoesn't go into an endless cycle. JAVA events 514 are the type of eventsgenerated by the JAVA walker 512. This currently includes most of thekinds of information one can derive from an object. This is the JAVAequivalent of ESIS and allows the same programming approach applied toXML to be applied to JAVA objects generally, although particularly toJAVA beans.

The JAVA to XML event generator 515 constitutes a JAVA listener and aJAVA event generator. It receives the stream of events 514 from the JAVAwalker 512 and translates selected ones to present a JAVA object as anXML document. In the one preferred embodiment, the event generator 515exploits the JAVA beans API. Each object seen becomes an element, withthe element name the same as the class name. Within that element, eachembedded method also becomes an element whose content is the valuereturned by invoking the method. If it is an object or an array ofobjects, then these are walked in turn.

FIG. 6 outlines a particular application built on the framework of FIG.5. This application takes in an XML document 600 and applies it to aparser/generator 601. ESIS events 602 are generated and supplied to anattribute generator 603 and tree builder 604. The attribute generatorcorresponds to the generator 505 of FIG. 5. It supplies the events tothe “architecture” 505B for translating the XML input to an HTML outputfor example. These events are processed in parallel as indicated byblock 605 and processed by listeners. The output of the listeners aresupplied to a document writer 506 and then translated back to an XMLformat for output. Thus for example this application illustrated in FIG.6 takes an XML document and outputs an HTML document containing a form.The form is then sent to a browser, and the result is converted back toXML. For this exercise, the architecture concept provides the mappingfrom XML to HTML. The three architectures included in FIG. 6 include onefor providing the structure of the HTML document, such as tables andlists, a second specifying text to be displayed, such as labels forinput fields on the browser document, and the third describes the inputfields themselves. The elements of the XML document required to maintainthe XML documents structure become invisible fields in the HTML form.This is useful for use in reconstruction of the XML document from theinformation the client will put into the HTTP post message that is sentback to the server. Each architecture takes the input document andtransforms it into an architecture based on a subset of HTML. Listenerslistening for these events, output events for the HTML document, whichthen go to a document writer object. The document writer object listensto XML events and turns them back into an XML document. The documentwriter object is a listener to all the element generators listening tothe architectures in this example.

The organization of the processing module illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6is representative of one embodiment of the parser and transactionprocess front end for the system of FIG. 3. As can be seen, a veryflexible interface is provided by which diverse transaction processescan be executed in response to the incoming XML documents, or otherstructured document formats.

FIG. 7 illustrates a node similar to that of FIG. 3, except that itincludes a business interface definition builder module 700. Thus, thesystem of FIG. 7 includes a network interface 701, a document parser702, and a document translator 703. The translator 703 supplies itsoutput to a transaction processing front end 704, which in turn iscoupled to listening functions such as commercial functions 705, adatabase 706, enterprise functions 707, and other generic listeners andprocessors 708. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the business interfacedefinition builder 700 includes a user interface, a common businesslibrary CBL repository, a process for reading complementary businessinterface definitions, and a compiler. The user interface is used toassist an enterprise in the building of a business interface definitionrelying on the common business library repository, and the ability toread complementary business interface definitions. Thus, the inputdocument of a complementary business interface definition can bespecified as the output document of a particular transaction, and theoutput document of the complementary business interface definition canbe specified as the input to such transaction process. In a similarmanner a transaction business interface definition can be composed usingcomponents selected from the CBL repository. The use of the CBLrepository encourages the use of standardized document formats, such asthe example schema (bid1) documents above, logical structures andinterpretation information in the building of business interfacedefinitions which can be readily adopted by other people in the network.

The business interface definition builder module 700 also includes acompiler which is used for generating the translator 703, the objects tobe produced by the translator according to the host transactionprocessing architecture, and to manage the parsing function 702.

FIG. 8 is a heuristic diagram showing logical structures stored in therepository in the business interface definition builder 700. Thus, therepository storage representative party business interface definitions800, including for example a consumer BID 801, a catalog house BID 802,a warehouse BID 803, and an auction house BID 804. Thus, a newparticipant in an online market may select as a basic interfacedescription one of the standardized BIDs which best matches itsbusiness. In addition, the repository will store a set of servicebusiness interface definitions 805. For example, an order entry BID 806,an order tracking BID 807, an order fulfillment BID 808, and a catalogservice BID 809 could be stored. As a new participant in the marketbuilds a business interface definition, it may select the businessinterface definitions of standardized services stored in the repository.

In addition to the party and service BIDs, input and output documentBIDs are stored in the repository as indicated by the field 810. Thus, apurchase order BID 811, an invoice BID 812, a request for quote BID 813,a product availability report BID 814, and an order status BID 815 mightbe stored in the repository.

The repository, in addition to the business interface definitions whichin a preferred system are specified as document type definitionsaccording to XML, stores interpretation information in the form ofsemantic maps as indicated by the field 816. Thus, semantic maps whichare used for specifying weights 817, currencies 818, sizes 819, productidentifiers 820, and product features 821 in this example might bestored in the repository. Further, the interpretation informationprovides for typing of data structures within the logical structures ofdocuments.

In addition, logical structures used in the composing of businessinterface definitions could be stored in the repository as indicated byblock 822. Thus, forms for providing address information 823, forms forproviding pricing information 824, and forms for providing terms ofcontractual relationships could be provided 825. As the network expands,the CBL repository will also expand and standardize tending to make theaddition of new participants, and the modification of business interfacedefinitions easier.

FIG. 9 illustrates the process of building a business interfacedefinition using the system of FIG. 7. The process begins by displayinga BID builder graphical interface to the user (step 900). The systemaccepts user input identifying a participant, service and documentinformation generated by the graphical interface (step 901).

Next, any referenced logical structures, interpretation information,document definitions and/or service definitions are retrieved from therepository in response to user input via the graphical user interface(step 902). In the next step, any complementary business interfacedefinitions or components of business interface definitions are accessedfrom other participants in the network selected via user input, bycustomized search engines, web browsers or otherwise (step 903). Adocument definition for the participant is created using the informationgathered (step 904). The translators for the document to host and hostto document mappers are created by the compiler (step 905). Hostarchitecture data structures corresponding to the definition are createdby the compiler (step 906), and the business interface definition whichhas been created is posted on the network, such as by posting on awebsite or otherwise, making it accessible to other nodes in the network(step 907).

Business interface definitions tell potential trading partners theonline services the company offers and which documents to use to invokethose services. Thus, the services are defined in the business interfacedefinition by the documents that they accept and produce. This isillustrated in the fragment of an XML service definition set forth asLISTING 5, in the file named LISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanyingcomputer program listing appendix.

This XML fragment defines a service consisting of two transactions, onefor taking orders and the other for tracking them. Each definitionexpresses a contract or promise to carry out a service if a validrequest is submitted to the specified Web address. The Order servicehere requires an input document that conforms to a standard “po.dtd”Document Type Definition located in the repository, which may be local,or stored in an industry wide registry on the network. If a node canfulfill the order, it will return a document conforming to a customized“invoice.dtd” whose definition is local. In effect, the company ispromising to do business with anyone who can submit a Purchase Orderthat conforms to the XML specification it declares. No prior arrangementis necessary.

The DTD is the formal specification or grammar for documents of a giventype; it describes the elements, their attributes, and the order inwhich they must appear. For example, purchase orders typically containthe names and addresses of the buyer and seller, a set of productdescriptions, and associated terms and conditions such as price anddelivery dates. In Electronic Data Interchange EDI for example, the X12850 specification is a commonly used model for purchase orders.

The repository encourages the development of XML document models fromreusable semantic components that are common to many business domains.Such documents can be understood from their common message elements,even though they may appear quite different. This is the role of theCommon Business Library repository.

The Common Business Library repository consists of information modelsfor generic business concepts including:

-   -   business description primitives like companies, services, and        products;    -   business forms like catalogs, purchase orders, and invoices;    -   standard measurements, date and time, location, classification        codes.

This information is represented as an extensible, public set of XMLbuilding blocks that companies can customize and assemble to develop XMLapplications quickly. Atomic CBL elements implement industry messagingstandards and conventions such as standard ISO codes for countries,currencies, addresses, and time. Low level CBL semantics have also comefrom analysis of proposed metadata frameworks for Internet resources,such as Dublin Core.

The next level of elements use these building blocks to implement thebasic business forms such as those used in X12 EDI transactions as wellas those used in emerging Internet standards such as OTP (Open TradingProtocol) and OBI (Open Buying on the Internet).

CBL's focus is on the functions and information that are common to allbusiness domains (business description primitives like companies,services, and products; business forms like catalogs, purchase orders,and invoices; standard measurements, date and time, location,classification codes). CBL builds on standards or industry conventionsfor semantics where possible (e.g., the rules that specify“day/month/year” in Europe vs “month/day/year” in the U.S. are encodedin separate CBL modules).

The CBL is a language that is used for designing applications. It isdesigned to bridge the gap between the “document world” of XML and the“programming world” of JAVA or other transaction processingarchitectures. Schema embodies a philosophy of “programming withdocuments” in which a detailed formal specification of a document typeis the master source from which a variety of related forms can begenerated. These forms include XML DTDs for CBL, JAVA objects, programsfor converting XML instances to and from the corresponding JAVA objects,and supporting documentation.

The CBL creates a single source from which almost all of the pieces of asystem can be automatically generated by a compiler. The CBL works byextending SGML/XML, which is normally used to formally define thestructures of particular document types, to include specification of thesemantics associated with each information element and attribute. Thelimited set of (mostly) character types in SGML/XML can be extended todeclare any kind of datatype.

Here is a fragment from the CBL definition for the “datetime” module:

<!-- datetime.mod Version: 1.0 -->

<!-- Copyright 1998 Veo Systems, Inc. -->

. . .

<! ELEMENT year (#PCDATA)>

<! ATTLIST year

-   -   schema CDATA #FIXED “urn:x-veosystems:stds:iso:8601:3.8”

>

<! ELEMENT month (#PCDATA)>

<! ATTLIST month

-   -   schema CDATA #FIXED “urn:x-veosystems:stds:iso:8601:3.12”

>

. . .

In this fragment, the ELEMENT “year” is defined as character data, andan associated “schema” attribute, also character data, defines theschema for “year” to be section 3.8 of the ISO 8601 standard.

This “datetime” CBL module is in fact defined as an instance of theSchema DTD. First, the module name is defined. Then the “datetime”element “YEAR” is bound to the semantics of ISO 8601:

<! DOCTYPE SCHEMA SYSTEM “schema.dtd”>

<SCHEMA><H1>Date and Time Module</H1>

. . .

<ELEMNTTYPE NAME=“year” DATATYPE=“YEAR”><MODEL>

-   -   <STRING

DATATYPE=“YEAR”></STRING></MODEL>

<ATTDEF NAME=:schema:iso8601” DATATYPE=“CDATA”>

-   -   <FIXED>3.8

Gregorian calendar</FIXED></ATTDEF></ELEMENTTYPE>

. . .

The example market participant and service modules above are also storedin the CBL repository.

In FIG. 10, an Airbill 1000 is being defined by customizing a genericpurchase order DTD 1001, adding more specific information about shippingweight 1002. The generic purchase order 1001 was initially assembledfrom the ground up out of CBL modules for address, date and time,currency, and vendor and product description. Using CBL thussignificantly speeds the development and implementation of XML commerceapplications. More importantly, CBL makes it easier for commercialapplications to be interconnected.

In the CBL, XML is extended with a schema. The extensions addstrong-typing to XML elements so that content can be readily validated.For example, an element called <CPU_clock_speed> can be defined as aninteger with a set of valid values: {100, 133, 166, 200, 233, 266 Mhz.}.The schema also adds class-subclass hierarchies, so that information canbe readily instantiated from class definitions. A laptop, for instance,can be described as a computer with additional tags for features such asdisplay type and battery life. These and other extensions facilitatedata entry, as well as automated translations between XML andtraditional Object-Oriented and relational data models.

Thus the completed BID is run through the compiler which produces theDTDs for the actual instance of a participant and a service as outlinedabove, the JAVA beans which correspond to the logical structures in theDTD instances, and transformation code for transforming from XML to JAVAand from JAVA to XML. In alternative systems documentation is alsogenerated for display on a user interface or for printing by a user tofacilitate use of the objects.

For the example market participant and service DTDs set forth above, theJAVA beans generated by the compiler are set forth (with some redactionsfor conciseness) as LISTING 6, in the file named LISTING COMBINED.txt inthe accompanying computer program listing appendix.

In addition to the JAVA beans set forth above, transformation code isproduced for translating from JAVA to XML and XML to JAVA as set forthas LISTING 7, in the file named LISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanyingcomputer program listing appendix.

Finally, the XML document instance(s) generated at run time according tothe model above for one example is set forth as LISTING 8, in the filenamed LISTING COMBINED.txt in the accompanying computer program listingappendix.

Using the tools along with a BID composer application, which provides adrag, drop and forms editing user interface, a developer is able tocreate a business interface definition and to produce a well formed,valid business interface definition in the form of an XML document.Thus, the example run time instance is a business interface definitionfor an ordering service for IBM to be used by Ingram Micro and others toorder laptop computers from IBM. (There is no relationship between theapplicant and IBM or Ingram Micro). Utilizing these processes, a user isable to build a system that allows for programming of a businessinterface using the documents defined according to the presentinvention.

The role of CBL and the BID processor of the present invention in anXML/JAVA environment can be further understood by the followingexplanation of the processing of a Purchase Order.

Company A defines its Purchase Order document type using a visualprogramming environment that contains a library of CBL DTDs and modules,all defined using common business language elements so that they containdata type and other interpretation information. Company A's PO mightjust involve minor customizations to a more generic “transactiondocument” specification that comes with the CBL library, or it might bebuilt from the ground up from CBL modules for address, date and time,currency, etc.

The documentation for the generic “transaction document” specification(such as the transact.dtd set out above) typifies the manner in whichCBL specifications are built from modules and are interlinked with otherCBL DTDs.

A compiler takes the purchase order definition and generates severaldifferent target forms. All of these target forms can be derived through“tree to tree” transformations of the original specification. The mostimportant for this example are:

-   -   (a) the XML DTD for the purchase order.    -   (b) a JAVA Bean that encapsulates the data structures for a        purchase order (the JAVA classes, arguments, datatypes, methods,        and exception structures are created that correspond to        information in the Schema definition of the purchase order).    -   (c) A “marshaling” program that converts purchase orders that        conform to the Purchase Order DTD into a Purchase Order JAVA        Bean or loads them into a database, or creates HTML (or an XSL        style sheet) for displaying purchase orders in a browser.    -   (d) An “unmarshaling” program that extracts the data values from        Purchase Order JAVA Beans and converts them into an XML document        that conforms to the Purchase Order DTD.

Now, back to the scenario. A purchasing application generates a PurchaseOrder that conforms to the DTD specified as the service interface for asupplier who accepts purchase orders.

The parser uses the purchase order DTD to decompose the purchase orderinstance into a stream of information about the elements and attributevalues it contains. These “property sets” are then transformed intocorresponding JAVA event objects by wrapping them with JAVA code. Thistransformation in effect treats the pieces of marked-up XML document asinstructions in a custom programming language whose grammar is definedby the DTD. These JAVA events can now be processed by the marshalingapplications generated by the compiler to “load” JAVA Bean datastructures.

Turning the XML document into a set of events for JAVA applications toprocess, is unlike the normal model of parsing in which the parseroutput is maintained as an internal data structure and processing doesnot begin until parsing completes. The event based processing, inresponse to the BID definitions, is the key to enabling the much richerfunctionality of the processor because it allows concurrent documentapplication processing to begin as soon as the first event is emitted.

JAVA programs that “listen for” events of various types are generatedfrom the Schema definition of those events. These listeners are programscreated to carry out the business logic associated with the XMLdefinitions in the CBL; for example, associated with an “address”element may be code that validates the postal code by checking adatabase. These listeners “subscribe” to events by registering with thedocument router, which directs the relevant events to all thesubscribers who are interested in them.

This publish and subscribe architecture means that new listener programscan be added without knowledge by or impact on existing ones. Eachlistener has a queue into which the router directs its events, whichenables multiple listeners can handle events in parallel at their ownpace.

For the example purchase order here, there might be listeners for:

-   -   the purchase order, which would connect it to an order entry    -   program,    -   product descriptions, which might check inventory,    -   address information, which could check Fed Ex or other service        for delivery availability,    -   buyer information, which could check order history (for        creditworthiness, or to offer a promotion, or similar processing        based on knowing who the customer is).

Complex listeners can be created as configurations of primitive ones(e.g., a purchase order listener may contain and invoke these listenershere, or they may be invoked on their own).

FIG. 11 illustrates the market maker node in the network of FIG. 1. Themarket maker node includes the basic structures of the system of FIG. 3,including a network interface 1101, a document parser 1102, a documentto host and host to document translator 1103, and a front end 1104,referred to as a router in this example. The market maker module 1105 inthis example includes a set of business interface definitions, or otheridentifiers sufficient to support the market maker function, forparticipants in the market, a CBL repository, and a compiler all servingthe participants in the market. The router 1104 includes a participantregistry and document filters which respond to the events generated atthe output of the translator and by the parser to route incomingdocuments according to the participant registry and according to theelement and attribute filters amongst the listeners to the XML eventgenerators. Thus, certain participants in the market may register toreceive documents that meet prespecified parameters. For example, inputdocuments according to a particular DTD, and including an attribute suchas numbers of products to be purchased greater than a threshold, or suchas a maximum price of a document request to be purchased, can be used tofilter documents at the router 1104. Only such documents as match theinformation registered in the participant registry at the router 1104are then passed on to the registered participant.

The router 1104 may also serve local host services 1105 and 1106, and assuch act as a participant in the market as well as the market maker.Typically, documents that are received by the router 1104 are traversedto determine the destinations to which such documents should be routed,there again passed back through the translator 1103, if necessary, andout the network interface 1101 to the respective destinations.

The market maker is a server that binds together a set of internal andexternal business services to create a virtual enterprise or tradingcommunity. The server parses incoming documents and invokes theappropriate services by, for example, handing off a request for productdata to a catalog server or forwarding a purchase order to an ERPsystem. The server also handles translation tasks, mapping theinformation from a company's XML documents onto document formats used bytrading partners and into data formats required by its legacy systems.

With respect to the service definition above, when a company submits apurchase order, the XML parser in the server uses the purchase order DTDto transform the purchase order instance into a stream of informationevents. These events are then routed to any application that isprogrammed to handle events of a given type; in some cases, theinformation is forwarded over the Internet to a different businessentirely. In the purchase order example, several applications may act oninformation coming from the parser:

-   -   An order entry program processes the purchase order as a        complete message;    -   An ERP system checks inventory for the products described in the        purchase order;    -   A customer database verifies or updates the customer's address;    -   A shipping company uses the address information to schedule a        delivery    -   A bank uses the credit card information to authorize the        transaction.

Trading partners need only agree on the structure, content, andsequencing of the business documents they exchange, not on the detailsof APIs. How a document is processed and what actions result is strictlyup to the business providing the service. This elevates integration fromthe system level to the business level. It enables a business to presenta clean and stable interface to its business partners despite changes inits internal technology implementation, organization, or processes.

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 illustrate processes executed at a market maker nodein the system of FIG. 11. In FIG. 12, an input document is received atthe network interface from an originating participant node (step 1200).The document is parsed (step 1201). The document is translated to theformat of the host, for example XML to JAVA (step 1202). The hostformatted events and objects are then passed to the router service (step1203). The services registered to accept the document according to thedocument type and content of the document are identified (step 1204).The document or a portion of the document is passed to the identifiedservices (step 1205). As service is performed in response to thedocument content (step 1206). The output data of the service is produced(step 1207). The output is converted to the document format, for examplefrom a JAVA format to an XML format (step 1208). Finally, the outputdocument is sent to a participant node (step 1209).

The registration service is one such function which is managed by therouter. Thus, a market participant document is accepted at the networkinterface as shown in FIG. 13 (step 1300). The market participantdocument is stored in the business interface definition repository (step1301) for the market maker node. In addition, the document is parsed(step 1302). The parsed document is translated into the format of thehost (step 1303). Next, the document is passed to the router service(step 1304). The router service includes a listener which identifies theregistration service as the destination of the document according to thedocument type and content (step 1305). The document or elements of thedocument are passed to the registration service (step 1306). In theregistration service, the needed service specifications are retrievedaccording to the business interface definition (step 1307). If theservice specifications are gathered, at step 1308, the router servicefilters are set according to the business interface definition and theservice specifications (step 1309). Registration acknowledgment data isproduced (1310). The registration acknowledgment data is converted to adocument format (step 1311). Finally, the acknowledgment document issent to the participant node indicating to the participant that issuccessfully registered with the market maker (step 1312).

The process at step 1307 of gathering needed service specifications isillustrated for one example in FIG. 14. This process begins by locatinga service business interface definition supported by the marketparticipant (step 1400). The service definition is retrieved, forexample by an E-mail transaction or web access to repository node (step1401). The service specification is stored in the BID repository (step1402). The service business interface definition document is parsed(step 1403). The parsed document is translated into the format of thehost (step 1404). Host objects are passed to the router service (step1405). The registration service is identified according to the documenttype and content (step 1406). Finally, the information in the servicebusiness interface definition document is passed to the registrationservice (step 1407) for use according to the process of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 illustrates the processor, components and sequence of processingof incoming data at market maker node according to the presentinvention. The market maker node includes a communication agent 1500 atthe network interface. The communication agent is coupled with an XMLparser 1501 which supplies events to an XML processor 1502. The XMLprocessor supplies events to a document router. The document routerfeeds a document service 1504 that provides an interface for supplyingthe received documents to the enterprise solution software 1505 in thehost system. The communication agent 1500 is an Internet interface whichincludes appropriate protocol stacks supporting such protocols as HTTP,SMTP, FTP, or other protocols. Thus, the incoming data could come in anXML syntax, an ASCII data syntax or other syntax as suits a particularcommunication channel. All the documents received in non-XML syntaxesare translated into XML and passed the XML parser. A translation table1506 is used to support the translation from non-XML form into XML form.

The converted documents are supplied to the parser 1501. The XML parserparses the received XML document according to the document typedefinition which matches it. If an error is found, then the parser sendsthe document back to the communication agent 1500. A business interfacedefinition compiler BIDC 1507 acts as a compiler for business interfacedefinition data. The DTD file for the XML parser, JAVA beanscorresponding to the DTD file, and translation rules for translating DTDfiles to JAVA beans are created by compiling the BID data. An XMLinstance is translated to JAVA instance by referring to these tools.Thus the BID compiler 1507 stores the DTD documents 1508 and producesJAVA documents which correspond 1509. The XML documents are passed tothe processor 1502 which translates them into the JAVA format. In apreferred system, JAVA documents which have the same status as thedocument type definitions received in the XML format are produced. TheJAVA beans are passed to the document router 1503. The document router1503 receives the JAVA beans and passes the received class to theappropriate document service using a registry program, for example usingthe event listener architecture described above. The document service1504 which receives the document in the form of JAVA beans from therouter 1503 acts as the interface to the enterprise solution software.This includes a registry service 1510 by which listeners to XML eventsare coupled with the incoming data streams, and a service manager 1511to manage the routing of the incoming documents to the appropriateservices. The document service manager 1511 provides for administrationof the registry service and for maintaining document consistency and thelike.

The document service communicates with the back end system using anyproprietary API, or using such more common forms as the CORBA/COMinterface or other architectures.

FIG. 16 provides a heuristic diagram of the market maker and marketparticipant structures according to the present invention. Thus, theelectronic commerce market according to the present invention can belogically organized as set forth in FIG. 16. At the top of theorganization, a market maker node 1600 is established. The market makernode includes resources that establish a marketplace 1601. Suchresources include a market registry service and the like. Businesses1602 register in the marketplace 1601 by publishing a business interfacedefinition. The business interface definition defines the services 1603for commercial transactions in which the businesses will participate.The transactions 1604 and services 1603 use documents 1605 to define theinputs and outputs, and outline the commercial relationship betweenparticipants in the transaction. The documents have content 1606 whichcarries the particulars of each transaction. The manner in which thecontent is processed by the participants in the market, and by themarket maker is completely independent of the document based electroniccommerce network which is established according to the presentinvention. Overall, a robust, scalable, intuitive structure is presentedfor enabling electronic commerce on communication networks is provided.

Thus, the present invention in an exemplary system provides a platformbased on the XML processor and uses XML documents as the interfacebetween loosely coupled business systems. The documents are transferredbetween businesses and processed by participant nodes before enteringthe company business system. Thus the platform enables electroniccommerce applications between businesses where each business systemoperates using different internal commerce platforms, processes andsemantics, by specifying a common set of business documents and forms.

According to the present invention, virtual enterprises are created byinterconnecting business systems and service, are primarily defined interms of the documents (XML-encoded) that businesses accept andgenerate:

-   -   “if you send me a request for a catalog, I will send you a        catalog:    -   “if you send me a purchase order and I can accept it, I will        send you an invoice”.

The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparentto practitioners skilled in this art. It is intended that the scope ofthe invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for establishing transactions among trading partners in anetwork, comprising: maintaining, utilizing a processor and memory, aregistry of machine-readable specifications specifying business servicesoffered by trading partners, the machine-readable specificationsincluding at least one of definitions of, and references to definitionsof, services offered and at least one of definitions of, and referencesto definitions of, documents to be exchanged with such services bytrading partners; and providing, in response to a request, one or moreof the machine-readable specifications from said registry via acommunication network to a requesting node; wherein saidmachine-readable specifications are adapted to be parsed and includedata that identifies an input document, identifies one or moretransactions that accept said input document, and describes sets ofstorage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units insaid input document.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the definitionsof the documents to be exchanged comprise respective descriptions ofsets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storageunits.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine-readablespecifications include documents compliant with a definition of apredefined document including logical structures for storing anidentifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitionsand references to definitions of input and output documents for theparticular transaction.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storageunits comprise parsed data.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thestorage units comprise unparsed data.
 6. The method of claim 1,including associating trading partners with said machine readablespecifications.
 7. A method for establishing transactions among tradingpartners in a network, comprising: maintaining, utilizing a processorand memory, a registry of machine-readable specifications specifyingbusiness services offered by trading partners, the machine-readablespecifications including at least one of definitions of, and referencesto definitions of, services offered and at least one of definitions of,and references to definitions of, documents to be exchanged with suchservices by trading partners, wherein said machine-readablespecifications comprise data identifying respective descriptions of setsof storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units;and providing, in response to a request, one or more of themachine-readable specifications from said registry via a communicationnetwork to a requesting node, wherein the sets of storage units compriseparsed data, and wherein the parsed data in at least one of thedocuments to be exchanged comprises: character data encoding textcharacters in the one of the input and output documents, and markup dataidentifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure ofthe one of the input and output documents.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes a plurality oftext characters providing a natural language word.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the specification includes interpretation informationfor at least one of the sets of storage units identified by the logicalstructure of at least one of the input and output documents, encodingrespective definitions for sets of parsed characters.
 10. An apparatusused for establishing transactions among trading partners in a network,comprising: a network interface; memory storing data and programs ofinstructions, including a registry of machine-readable specificationsspecifying business services offered by trading partners, themachine-readable specifications including at least one of definitionsof, and references to definitions of, services offered and at least oneof definitions of, and references to definitions of, documents to beexchanged with such services by trading partners; and a data processorcoupled to the memory and the network interface which executes programsof instructions; wherein said machine-readable specifications areadapted to be parsed and include data that identifies an input document,identifies one or more transactions that accept said input document, anddescribes sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets ofstorage units in said input document; wherein the programs ofinstructions include logic to provide, in response to a request receivedat the network interface, one or more of the machine-readablespecifications from said registry via a communication network to arequesting node.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the definitionsof the documents to be exchanged comprise respective descriptions ofsets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storageunits.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the machine-readablespecifications include documents compliant with a definition of apredefined document including logical structures for storing anidentifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitionsand references to definitions of input and output documents for theparticular transaction.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theprograms of instructions include logic to associate identifiers oftrading partners with said machine-readable specifications.
 14. Anapparatus used for establishing transactions among trading partners in anetwork, comprising: a network interface; memory storing data andprograms of instructions, including a registry of machine-readablespecifications specifying business services offered by trading partners,the machine-readable specifications including at least one ofdefinitions of, and references to definitions of, services offered andat least one of definitions of, and references to definitions of,documents to be exchanged with such services by trading partners,wherein the definitions of the documents to be exchanged compriserespective descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structuresfor the sets of storage units; and a data processor coupled to thememory and the network interface which executes programs ofinstructions; wherein the programs of instructions include logic toprovide, in response to a request received at the network interface, oneor more of the machine-readable specifications from said registry via acommunication network to a requesting node; wherein the storage unitscomprise parsed data, and the parsed data in at least one of thedocuments to be exchanged comprises: character data encoding textcharacters in the one of the input and output documents, and markup dataidentifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure ofthe one of the input and output documents.
 15. The apparatus of claim14, wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes aplurality of text characters providing a natural language word.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the specification includes interpretationinformation for at least one of the sets of storage units identified bythe logical structure of at least one of the input and output documents,encoding respective definitions for sets of parsed characters.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the storage units comprise unparsed data.18. A method for executing transactions among nodes in a network, thenetwork including a plurality of nodes which execute processes involvedin the transactions, comprising: publishing through a communicationnetwork a machine-readable specification of an interface to anoperation, the specification including a definition of an input documentand a definition of an output document, the definitions of the input andoutput documents comprising respective descriptions of sets of storageunits and logical structures for the sets of storage units; wherein saidmachine-readable specifications are adapted to be parsed and includedata that identifies an input document, identifies one or moretransactions that accept said input document, and describes sets ofstorage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units insaid input document; receiving data comprising the input documentthrough the communication network; parsing the data according to thespecification to identify the input document; providing at least aportion of the input document in a machine-readable format to atransaction process which produces an output; forming an outputdocument, based on the specification and according to the definition ofthe output document; and transmitting the output document through thecommunication network.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein thedefinitions of the documents to be exchanged comprise respectivedescriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for thesets of storage units.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein themachine-readable specifications include documents compliant with adefinition of a predefined document including logical structures forstoring an identifier of a particular transaction, and at least one ofdefinitions and references to definitions of input and output documentsfor the particular transaction.
 21. A method of executing operationsrequested by a consuming service running on a consuming server via anetwork, comprising exposing to at least one consuming service via anetwork an operation interface running on a providing server, theoperation interface providing access to an operation running on aprocessing server and, wherein the operation interface implements aninterface definition stored in an operation interface definition datastructure on an interface storage means and the interface definitiondata structure includes definitions of input and output businessdocuments, and the definitions include respective descriptions of setsof storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units;receiving at the providing server via the network an input businessdocument from the consuming server; parsing at the providing server theinput business document according to the definition of the inputbusiness document to provide access to its content and logical structureand translating at least part of the parsed input business document intoan internal input data object; sending from the providing server to theoperation running on the processing server the internal input dataobject; and transmitting via the network an output business documentthat conforms to the definition of the output business document to theconsuming server.
 22. The method of claim 21, further including: theproviding server receiving back an internal output data object from theprocessing server; and translating at the providing server the internaloutput data object into the output business document that is transmittedto the consuming server.
 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the inputand output business documents conform to a standard Extensible MarkupLanguage XML format.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein the storageunits comprise parsed data.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein theparsed data in at least one of the input and output business documentscomprises: character data encoding text characters in the one of theinput and output business documents; and markup data identifying sets ofstorage units according to the logical structure of the one of the inputand output documents.
 26. A method of causing operations to be executedresponsive to a request from a consuming service running on a consumingserver to an operation interface of a providing server via a network,wherein the operation interface implements an operation interfacedefinition stored in an operation interface definition data structure onan interface storage means and the interface definition data structureincludes definitions of input and output business documents, and thedefinitions include respective descriptions of sets of storage units andlogical structures for the sets of storage units, the method comprising:marshalling data on the consuming server from a first internal dataobject into an input business document that conforms to the operationinterface definition of the input business document; sending the inputbusiness document from the consuming server to the providing server viathe network; receiving from the providing server at the consuming serveran output business document that conforms to the operation interfacedefinition of the output business document; parsing at the consumingserver the output business document according to the definition of theoutput business document to provide access to its content and logicalstructure and translating at least part of the parsed output businessdocument into a second internal data object.